– ‘former’ Kogi State Deputy Governor, Simon Achuba
Our country is not wholly weaned of feudalistic tendencies. And how best can that be confirmed than in the manner deputies are treated? For how long will the nation continue to treat those who occupy the ‘exalted’ offices of vice president and deputy governors as ‘second class’ occupants of power who should be tolerated and then dispensed off with when they overstep their ‘boundaries’?
History always provides us with the opportunity to learn from it and become better or repeat it and become stagnant and possibly worse off. For every student of History, the events of 1966 will remain a sour taste in our political life. It was the halting of our progress as a nation, and most painfully at the regional levels. Even those regions that were categorised as ‘backward’ then would have moved far beyond where we all are now. After all, competition has a way of pushing a lame duck out of its comfort zone.
In the Second Republic, as part of obliterating whatever was left of the pre-1966 political machinery, the then military government midwifed a presidential system of government. At independence, Nigeria adopted a parliamentary system, which gave a large latitude for regional development and saved us, a lot, from the acrimony that has come to characterise the sharing of power between a principal and his deputy.
At the presidential level in the Second Republic, the overtly cerebral Alex Ekwueme was constrained to playing a second fiddle, who was only ‘heard’ but could hardly influence anything in governance.
However, there was a significant exception in that period, too, in the case of the old Ondo State. The aging governor, Chief Michael Ajasin, saw an asset in the vibrant young lawyer, Akin Omoboriowo, and entrusted significant functions of state in his care. Ajasin, usually not too keen on the limelight, was simply acting to his true nature. For students of History, it was Ajasin who was the brain behind the implementation of free education in the then Western Region. Althiugh Awolowo received all the ‘praises’ for that unique policy.
So Akin Omoboriowo became well known, and was ubiquitous as the face of the government. Then in a twist of ambition, he felt he needed not to wait for his turn. Ajasin was old; why should he seek a second time?! In Ikenne, home of the leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (NPN), the consensus was that all governors should have shots at second terms. Omoboriowo felt humiliated and considered himself too much a political asset to wait for another four years as a second fiddle. He opted out, and the then federally-controlled National Party of Nigeria (NPN) saw in him a ‘beautiful bride’, and he became their flagbearer.
In an announcement, when the NPN tried to ‘out-rig’ UPN and declared Omoboriowo as the elected governor of Ondo State election, hell was literally let loose. In a spontaneous response across the State, there was mayhem, as people went on a rampage, destroying property and killing people to protest the ‘broad day robbery’ of its election. Many families are yet to recover from the consequences of that ugly incidence till date. Unfortunately, the regime was terminated three months after by the junta that made General Muhammad Buhari the head of state then.
One thing is clear, both the families of presidents and governors, respectively, as well other government functionaries and even the society, merely see deputies as “spare tires” that can be changed at the whims of their principals. Deputies are only given due recognition when they are seen as not ‘outshining’ their principals…
Reminiscent of what obtained in Ondo State between Chief Ajasin and Omoboriowo, the deputy to Buhari, the late Tunde Idiagbon was more visible than the head of state. The no-smiling General was everywhere and could be termed the face of that government. So, in 1985, when the “Evil-genius” General dethroned the government of Buhari (of which he was the third in the hierarchy) in a ‘palace coup’, he ensured that Buhari was ‘swept away’ with his deputy.
Those were perhaps the glorious eras of deputising in the Nigerian political landscape.
In the Fourth Republic, the ‘second fiddle’ phenomenon was best exhibited by the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT as he was then known) of Lagos State. Despite his claim to political astuteness, which may not be farfetched, his treatment of the office and person of deputy governors left much to be desired. For any close observer, Iya Oodua, Mrs. Bucknor-Akerele, suffered much ignominy in the hands of her principal. It was so bad that stories were flying around that she was personally fueling her official cars, as every access to anything government was completely blocked from her.
Even Femi Pedro, who was ‘pulled’ out of his ‘exotic’ bank job position, did not fare any better. He had to contest, and I think under the Labour Party, when he was told in an ‘unmistaken’ language that he was not primed to succeed BAT as the next governor of Lagos State. No doubt, the excellent choice of Babatunde Raji Fashola made a lot of ‘Lagosians’ forgive what could have been termed a severe betrayal of trust based on promise.
Of course, during the ‘incapacitation’ of late President Musa Yar’Adua, it took the invocation of the doctrine of necessity before the then ‘cabal’ retreated and allowed President Goodluck Jonathan to assume the saddle of leadership. President Goodluck Jonathan also had earlier been one of the few ‘lucky’ deputy governors, who at least does not have any public record of ‘humiliation’ from their prior principal. He, in fact, like Abba Musa Rimi, who succeeded Balarabe Musa of Kaduna State in the Second Republic, also replaced his mentor, the ‘late’ Governor Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, after the latter was impeached.
In an unprecedented manner, a former gubernatorial candidate in Kogi State, the self-styled Prince Audu, died before the results of the election he was leading in were fully announced. After a lot of arguments about the supremacy of the party over the candidate that won, I believe it was agreed that All Progressives Congress (APC) should be allowed to form the government at the time. Again, the deputy to late Audu was shoved aside as ‘inconsequential’ and the aspirant who had lost to Prince Audu at the primary election then was brought in to inherit Audu’s victory, thereby ushering the youngest governor, Yahaya Bello, into the saddle.
The question begging for an answer is: Despite the constitutional ‘guarantee’ that deputies are co-mandate owners, how then are they treated as dispensable in Nigeria? Is it that the Constitution is weak on this, or its implementation is in aberration?
For some time now, we have been inundated with the cries of Yahaya Bello’s erstwhile deputy, who also got treated like Iya Oodua in Lagos State. Last week, the ‘news’ finally broke that the said deputy, Simon Achuba, had been impeached by the Kogi State House of Assembly. Other information thereafter filtered out that the panel set up to ‘probe’ the activities of the said ‘former’ deputy governor did not indict him of wrongdoing in any way. But, the State legislature in its ‘wisdom’ felt it better to dispense with the disposable services of the deputy governor, perhaps, to satisfy the yearning of his ‘Imperial Majesty’ the owner of Kogi State, His Excellent Yahaya Bello, who has been ‘anointed’ for a second term in office.
In recent times too, the ‘travails’ of Vice President Osinbajo has been in the public domain.
One thing is clear, both the families of presidents and governors, respectively, as well other government functionaries and even the society, merely see deputies as “spare tires” that can be changed at the whims of their principals. Deputies are only given due recognition when they are seen as not ‘outshining’ their principals, or when they do not indicate any overt ambition that puts them on the collision course with their ‘benefactors.’
It is no secret that deputies are expected to ‘rever’ their principals as their ‘benefactors’ for having ‘chosen’ them among many ‘eligible’ candidates for the positions they occupy. The deputy is not expected to have an opinion but to ensure that s/he toes the line of his/her ‘master’. To have any idea distinct from that of the ‘feudal lord’ is to exhibit an unimaginable sense of ‘ingratitude’ and such would be rewarded with ‘public humiliation.’
The question begging for an answer is: Despite the constitutional ‘guarantee’ that deputies are co-mandate owners, how then are they treated as dispensable in Nigeria? Is it that the Constitution is weak on this, or its implementation is in aberration?
It is often said that politics is local. Using the same basis, the much-taunted democracy can also be supposed to be ‘local.’ There is a lot of cultural influence in the practice of democracy in different jurisdictions. Our country is not wholly weaned of feudalistic tendencies. And how best can that be confirmed than in the manner deputies are treated? For how long will the nation continue to treat those who occupy the ‘exalted’ offices of vice president and deputy governors as ‘second class’ occupants of power who should be tolerated and then dispensed off with when they overstep their ‘boundaries’? As usual, I am #JustThinkingAloud.
Oluwadele L. Bolutife, a chartered accountant and a public policy and administration scholar, writes from Canada.
